Compassionate Professional Care

On this page

• Overview
• Learning culture
• Safe systems, pathways and transitions
• Safeguarding
• Involving people to manage risks
• Safe environments
• Safe and effective staffing
• Infection prevention and control
• Medicines optimisation

Safe – this means we looked for evidence that people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm.

This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated Good. This meant people were safe and protected from avoidable harm.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a proactive and positive culture of safety, based on openness and honesty. Staff listened to concerns about safety and investigated and reported safety events. Lessons were learnt to continually identify and embed good practice. Systems and procedures were in place to learn from incidents, to prevent recurrence and promote safety. One person told us, “There was an isolated mistake once which was addressed immediately but it was picked up straight away.”

Staff told us they were assured concerns would be investigated in an open and transparent way by managers and learning from incidents shared with all staff. Care workers told us they were given feedback both individually and as a team collectively regarding learning from incidents. One staff member said, “If anything happens or goes wrong the manager looks into it and provides us with feedback.

The provider worked with people and healthcare partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care, in which safety was managed or monitored. They made sure there was continuity of care, including when people moved between different services. One relative said, “The service had been supportive and involved with us when [family member] was admitted and then subsequently discharged from hospital.”

People’s care records were detailed and reflected their needs. Staff had sufficient guidance to support people safely as their care records were stored and continually accessible to staff within their hand-held devices. The provider ensured they were able to meet people’s needs by undertaking both phone and face to face assessments. Their needs, risks and preferences were collated from, people, their relatives, and any healthcare agencies where relevant.

People received care and support from a stable staff team. Discussions with staff confirmed they knew people well which supported continuity of care. One staff member said, “The majority of the time I attend to the same people, and I know them all well. I do sometimes support other people if there are any staff shortages or to prevent a delay if another carer is going to be late.”

The provider worked with people and healthcare partners to understand what being safe meant to them and the best way to achieve that. Staff concentrated on improving people’s lives while protecting their right to live in safety, free from bullying, harassment, abuse, discrimination, avoidable harm and neglect. The provider shared concerns quickly and appropriately.

People and relatives told us they were safely supported by the service. One relative said, “They are very ‘on the ball’ and I have confidence in them.”

Staff told us they had received safeguarding training and knew the safeguarding policy and procedure. Staff understood their responsibilities and spoke confidently about keeping people safe from abuse and avoidable harm. They were confident the provider would take any safeguarding concern seriously.

The managers knew their responsibilities of reporting safeguarding matters to external agencies and how they would work openly and collaboratively with them with any investigation. The registered manager told us, “As an added safeguarding feature each staff members lanyard has a safeguarding information card which supports good practice.

The provider worked with people to understand and manage risks by thinking holistically. Staff provided care to meet people’s needs that was safe, supportive and enabled people to do the things that mattered to them.

The provider worked together with people and their relatives to understand, assess and manage risks to their health and well-being. They had oversight of risk by having frequent dialogue and reviews of people’s care to provide ongoing assurance that risk was continually managed effectively. Staff delivered care in a safe and supportive way enabling them to live their lives as safely and independently as possible. People were provided with a copy of their most up to date care plan which was accessible via a secure app and/or in paper form within people’s homes.

Staff said they were provided with accurate and reflective care plans and risk assessments to support the safe delivery of care. One staff member said, “The care records are good and are always updated if things change. People also have copies of their care plan at their homes."

The provider detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment. They made sure equipment, facilities and technology supported the delivery of safe care.

Potential risks related to people’s home environment were assessed and recorded in people’s care records to ensure the safety of people and staff were considered. Where people were assessed as requiring equipment to support them, for example with their mobility, risk assessments were in place and staff were trained effectively in the use of moving and handling aids. Other risks relating to security and safety of people’s homes were also recorded.

A 24/7 out of office hours procedure was in place for staff, people and relatives so managers could always be contacted for support. All the people we spoke with confirmed this was in place and those that had used it said they were always able to contact managers.

The provider made sure there were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff, who received effective support, supervision and development. They worked together well to provide safe care that met people’s individual needs. A robust recruitment policy was in place to ensure staff were recruited safely so, that as far as possible, only suitable staff with the right skills and experience were employed.

People told us staff arrived on time and stayed for the length of time agreed and carried out everything they should do. No person said any call had been missed. One relative told us, “We specified the times of calls we wanted because my [family member] likes to get up a little bit later. We were able to specify what time we wanted them to go in.”

An effective scheduling system was in place to plan and monitor care visits. The system recorded staffs’ start and end times of their visits. This enabled the provider to have oversight of care calls to confirm people received their care for the agreed time.

Staff were suitably trained and experienced to deliver safe care. A range of eLearning was undertaken by all staff. A practical training room was close to being fully refurbished at the providers office to train staff face to face on specific areas of practice including manual handling.

Training matrices confirmed staff training was in date. Staff told us the training received provided them with the right skills to deliver safe care that was in line with current practice. They gave positive feedback on the overall induction, initial shadowing of care calls, and the ongoing training provided.

The provider assessed and managed the risk of infection. They detected and controlled the risk of it spreading and shared concerns with appropriate agencies promptly.

An infection prevention and control policy (IPC) was in place. Staff had undertaken infection prevention and control training.

Staff and all the people and relatives we spoke with told us Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as gloves, aprons or shoe covers were worn on each visit. “One staff member told us, “We always have PPE and I wear it and dispose of it properly”. Other carers I work with when people require two carers also wear their PPE.”

The provider made sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. Staff involved people in planning, including when changes happened. Staff had been trained and had their competencies reviewed in the safe delivery of medicines to ensure safe practices were always followed.

Two people’s medicine administration records (MAR’s) we reviewed were completed correctly. Body maps were in place for where creams should be applied to people’s skin by carers. One family member said, “They are good at doing body maps. They know which creams to use and when.” Another said, “The carers deal with medication. No issues. They get the medication when they are supposed to.”

Two staff members told us their training was in date, and they received refresher training. Our review of training records confirmed this.

People and relatives said their medicines were managed safely by staff. One said, “They do [manage them well]. My [family member] needs prompting. When they’re not well they can completely forget."